Lakes Region police with ties to Boston area praise investigators

By Larissa MulkernSpecial to the Union Leader

WOLFEBORO — A high-ranking officer with Wolfeboro Police who just graduated from the FBI Academy had high praise for how the investigation into the Boston Marathon progressed this week and through the tense manhunt on Friday.

Wolfeboro Police Department Lt. Dean Rondeau said investigators – including Boston Police, Massachusetts State Police, FBI agents and those from other agencies – worked "tirelessly" and at lightening speed from day one of the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday. To have identified suspects within four days of the investigation was, "phenomenal."

The search for the second of two suspects, identified as Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, of Cambridge, Mass., continued on Friday afternoon. Officials and family members identified the other suspect as his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26. Tamerlan was killed in a police shootout on Thursday night.

All of Boston and several surrounding communities were under high alert Friday, with residents told to stay in their homes and only answer the door if uniformed officers knocked.

Rondeau said two-thirds of the staff at the Wolfeboro Police Department are from Massachusetts. Rondeau grew up in Cambridge and is a 1982 graduate of the same high school the suspects attended – Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School.

Aside from having high praise for law enforcers, and best wishes for a safe outcome to this manhunt, Rondeau expressed condolences on behalf of the department.

"We here at the Wolfeboro Police Department are deeply saddened by the loss of life and injury. Our hearts go out to the injured and to the families who lost loved ones. We’re also deeply saddened to learn of the MIT officer who was killed in the line of duty, and another transit officer who was injured while trying to approach the suspects.

"We wish the Boston Police Department, Massachusetts State Police, the FBI and other law enforcement officers working on this all the best possible for a safe resolution and hope there is no further bloodshed," he said.

Rondeau was not aware of any local law enforcement agency or officer(s) who may be assisting in the Boston-area manhunt today.